Inventure

In a sea of ‘me too’ mobile payment startups/dongles à la Square, Finnish startup IroFit actually looks like it has an interesting proposition. The soon-to-launch Helsinki company offers a mobile platform for small businesses to accept card payments via a mobile app and ‘EMV-certified’ card reader, underpinned by various business management features.
However… Read More

Estonian startup Lingvist, which is developing “adaptive” language learning software that it claims significantly reduces the time it takes to learn a new language, has raised a €1 million round of funding. Read More

here are more than 2.5 billion people without a credit score in the world today, which means that there’s no way for them to find banking help when they need it. A new startup called InVenture is looking to solve that problem, with personal finance tools that not only help the underbanked keep track of their finances, but also helps provide them with a credit score. Read More

Web of Trust (WOT), the safe surfing tool/browser add-on which is powered by the crowd, has raised a fresh €1M (approx. ~$1.3M) led by Finland/China-based VC firm, Inventure. Also participating in the round is private investor, Risto Siilasmaa, and Finnish Industry Investment, a previous backer of the Helsinki-based company.
The new capital will be used for “additional product… Read More

Startup Sauna has always been a slightly puzzling thing. It acts ike an accelerator but does not fund startups. It simply offers European (mostly from Nordic countries) and Russian startups coaching sessions and demo trips to Silicon Valley, and takes no equity. That’s because it is funded by Finland’s Aalto University and the Finnish Funding agency for technology and innovation. Read More

Freespee, which provides call tracking and pay-per-call solutions for the “lead generation industry”, has closed a second round of funding of 1.1 million euros.
The new investment comes from Finland’s Inventure and will be used to fuel growth across Europe. It follows previous funding in October 2009 to the tune of €800k also from the Finnish VC fund whose other… Read More

Thinglink, the product tagging startup founded by design blogger Ulla-Maaria Engeström (wife of Jaiku co-founder Jyri Engestrom, who is also an adviser), has raised $1 million in seed funding from Nordic investors Inventure and Lifeline Ventures. The new funds will be used to develop an in-image advertising network for brands, retailers and other product advertisers, says the… Read More